diff --git a/file_mover/remote_sftp.py b/file_mover/remote_sftp.py
index a4371cf4..5f4e6535 100755
--- a/file_mover/remote_sftp.py
+++ b/file_mover/remote_sftp.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class sftp_remote:
 
         #-T3= 3 threads, use 70% of available ram
         if 'tar_recursive' == command_state:
-            exec_command_state = f"XZ_OPT='-T3 --memlimit-compress=70%' tar -cJf {zipname} {self.path}"
+            exec_command_state = f"XZ_OPT='-T3 --memlimit-compress=70%' tar --exclude={zipname} -cJf {zipname} {self.path}"
         elif 'mysqldump' == command_state:
             #check README for my.cnf regarding how this works
             exec_command_state = f'mysqldump -u root --all-databases > mysqldump.sql'